It’s clearly time to ‘Face the Music’

Steven Schick and the La Jolla Symphony & Chorus will face the music next season in six pairs of performances programmed around the theme, “Face the Music: Experiences for the Ears and the Eyes.”

The season surveys ear- and eye-opening works ranging from Scriabin’s “Prometheus” with color organ projections by visual artist Ross Karre to the San Diego premiere of Iannis Xenakis’ groundbreaking “Metastasis.” Those more unconventional works are balanced by ambitious standard repertoire, including Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 and Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis.”

If you still think the eyes and ears thing is just a slogan, consider the March program with Mark Applebaum’s Concerto for Florist and Orchestra, where the “soloist” is ornamental horticulturist James DelPrince. And if you are wondering who DelPrince is, he’s an associate professor of floral design at Mississippi State University. According to the university’s Web site, “MSU is the only institution with a specialized curriculum in Retail Floristry Management, a fully-operational florist shop and an active SAIFD chapter” (Student American Institute of Floral Designers). Expect the Yo-Yo Ma of floral soloists.

Concerts are at UCSD’s Mandeville Auditorium. Subscriptions, $55 to $149; single tickets go on sale in August. (858) 534-4637 or lajollasymphony.com.

JAMES CHUTE

Heading to D.C.

A play commissioned by Diversionary Theatre in tribute to a slain politician is making like the overachieving Mr. Smith, going all the way to Washington for a concert reading at the Kennedy Center next month.

Patricia Loughrey’s “Dear Harvey,” which takes its name from the pioneering gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, is based on interviews about Milk’s legacy with public officials, activists and others. They include such local figures as former San Diego Councilwoman Toni Atkins (who is running for Assembly this year) and state Sen. Christine Kehoe.

The piece had its world premiere last April at Diversionary, under the direction of Dan Kirsch, the theater’s executive and artistic director. A subsequent production by San Diego State University became a regional finalist in the Kennedy Center’s college theater festival; center officials then invited the show for a reading in D.C. The event takes place at 5 p.m. April 16 at the Kennedy Center Family Theater.

Loughrey and Thomas Hodges, who composed original music for the play, also have both earned fellowships to attend the weeklong national festival in the nation’s capital. Meantime, “Dear Harvey” is scheduled for readings and productions later this year in Los Angeles and Bakersfield.

Diversionary will host its own encore reading at its University Heights performance space May 18 or 19, just before the state’s first Harvey Milk Day, May 22. (Gov. Schwarzenegger signed a law last year reserving that date to honor Milk each year).